Edward V (1470-1483), uncrowned king of England (1483) was twelve when his father, Edward IV, died in April.

The young Prince of Wales immediately left Ludlow Castle in Shropshire, where he had been under the protection of his maternal uncle, to travel to London for the proclamation of his ascension. He and his retinue were waylaid on the road by supporters of his paternal uncle, Richard of Gloucester, and put into the hands of the bishop of London. In May he was transferred to the Tower of London as preparations were being made for his coronation. In June, he was joined by his younger brother, Richard, and they occasionally were seen in the gardens together. By the end of that summer, however, both boys had disappeared and were never seen again.

There has been rumour and conjecture ever since about their fate and the complicity, or not, of Richard of Gloucester, who proclaimed himself king, as Richard III, shortly after. In 1674 the partial remains of two skeletons were recovered from the Tower grounds. A 1933 “post mortem” revealed only that they were of the right approximate ages.